Binge/Cheat eating

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DarkShilen
DarkShilen Posts: 14 Member
edited May 2018 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, I'll start with some back story.

I started counting late November at 95 kg/209lb very strictly, but also the wrong way. For half a year I survived on 800-900 cals a day + the same amount burned (I walked alot - around 30k steps a day). I knew it was wrong, but I was so desperate. Now I'm almost at my goal weight 60 kg (7 kg / 15lb left) and decided it was enough. I want to finish it the right way and have healthy relationship with food for lifetime.
The problem is now I feel hungry all the time. I eat ~1200, sometimes even more than that just to satisfy it, but I still have the need to binge. And don't even count it (it's either straight of the fridge, some pack of cookies or etc) because I rush to it.
I figured keeping myself busy with stuff helps, but not for long. Has anyone been on the same boat? How did you break through it?

Replies

  • RAinWA
    RAinWA Posts: 1,980 Member
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    I'm no expert, but I suspect you need to quit trying to lose for a while and go to maintenance calories. After that long of a serious restriction and now still in a deficit, your body needs calories to get back to normal.

    You also might consider finding some help for your relationship with food.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
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    Have you tried increasing your calories beyond the 1200? Unless you are very short, you can probably get away with eating more -- and that'll help control the binge urge.
  • Fflpnari
    Fflpnari Posts: 975 Member
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    Up your calories!
    I did 800 calories for 8 months, after i got to goal I ended up with a binge eating disorder and gained 30lbs back in a month, and kept gaining. Now I weigh 226 and am losing eating 2000 calories. Up your calories to a healthy number and hopefully it will help the binge feeling.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
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    Slowly increase your calories. Go for 1300 for a couple weeks, then 1400, etc, until you notice your weight loss stopping. This is reverse dieting.

    Eating so little for so long has freaked your body out a bit. Reverse dieting can help reset that.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    I can't tell someone else how they should feel in their own situation but I would be freaking out and going to see a doctor and a therapist as soon as possible. Unless you were eating more than you realized after 30 days you would have had to push through some physical signs like dizziness and fatigue that you should not have ignored. That is putting weight loss as a priority over health and is not a good sign.
  • DarkShilen
    DarkShilen Posts: 14 Member
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    I did feel quite dizzy and tired, but that's how I usually feel. I never really had eating too much problem, quite the opposite most of the time. It was all the booze and sugary drinks that got me where I was. After cutting them that's pretty much what was left (+200-300 cals over, I guess). However, I guess I have first to work on my relationship with food, which obviously hasn't been good for years. I did think of talking to a specialist, but where I'm from it's quite expensive. That's why I wanted to know if there is someone who has been this way, but passed through it.
  • janalo55
    janalo55 Posts: 50 Member
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    I'm sorry. I lost at a really low calorie intake when I was 19 years old. I lost 16#, but got down to 600 calories a day, trying to lose more. When I gave up, I gained 40# in 4 months. I would recommend being very careful as you do as some of the others have suggested, slowly up your calorie intake to a more reasonable number. Count every calorie, and use the same strict accountability you used to keep to that low calorie intake as you help your body readjust. Cheating and letting things slip can SO easily get away from you.
  • DarkShilen
    DarkShilen Posts: 14 Member
    edited May 2018
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    janalo55 wrote: »
    I'm sorry. I lost at a really low calorie intake when I was 19 years old. I lost 16#, but got down to 600 calories a day, trying to lose more. When I gave up, I gained 40# in 4 months. I would recommend being very careful as you do as some of the others have suggested, slowly up your calorie intake to a more reasonable number. Count every calorie, and use the same strict accountability you used to keep to that low calorie intake as you help your body readjust. Cheating and letting things slip can SO easily get away from you.

    You gained because you were cheat eating or did your body adjusted to your low calorie diet?
    I'm sorry if I'm ignorant on the topic, but is it true that your metabolism gets worse after that?
    Planning to up my calories with baby steps already. See if I can do it right. Got some pastry today for a snack, even with just that i feel better now, even if it was a little below 1200. It's midnight and no hunger for bingeing. Yay! More tomorrow, I hope :)

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